The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1887-08-26
BIG DAKOTA FARMS.

ated along the Northern Pacific and Mani
toba railroads are but infants when com
pared with those OF California. fut the eli
mate and soil of Dakota and Manitoba are so
far superior for wheat growing to those of
California that Hook at them with peculiar
Interest, writes Frank Wilkeson to the New
York Times from Casselton. Dak AS / said,
there is no pretense of making q pleasant
home life for the workmen who labor on
these farms There Is no eating with the
farmers family, and no loye-making be-
tween handsome harvest hands and the far
mer's fair daughter. No walks, no rides,
no moonlight boat rowing on winding
rivers, no romantic capers OF any sefE
All thu poetry has been knocked out
OF farm life on these immense farms. They
are fed wen They sleep in barns or garn-
ers. They are divided into gangs, as tothe
work they do in the fields, and behind each
gang a foreman rides On horseback and
keeps them at work 1t is hard, continuous
work Self-binding machines, drawn by
three strong horses. roll around and around
the wheat fields, throwing with iron arm a
bound bundle OF wheat every ten feet Be-
hind the machines walk a line of shockers. o
shocker TO each machine. These men have
to walk as fast as the horses and bend over
and pick up a heavy bundle of wheat every
ten feet ana carry it to a shock And above
them blazes The fiery Dakota sun. During
threshing it is the same. The steam thresher
never tires. The men who pitch bundles in
the field have each to pitch to a certain NUM-
Der of wagons. The men who drive have
to- unload their wagons. The men who
feed the straw into the iron-toothed mouth
OF the machine have to feed all that is
| hror1uht ~ fba,a. No ~ ella 80 kha MO
chine the grain pours out of a spout, and Is
loaded directly into wagons and hauled to
the garner. There are Just sufficient men to
do the work For twelve hours every day
they work industriously. 1t is not farming.
IL is the manufacture of wheat which is be-
ing carried on, The products of small farms
n compete with these so-called bonanza
farms any more successfully than the out
put OF a village blacksmtth's shop could
compete with that from the Novelty Iron
works. In the competitive age in which we
live, when the law OF the survival of the
httest (Which means in industrial pursuits
the cheapest producer) is in full operation, !
think that these great farms, which are
managed as manufacturing industries are,
will be found to be necessary to enable us to
hold the consuming markets of the world.
They are the outgrowth of competition. For
q month in the spring, and for forty days in
| the summer ana rail-, the air hanging over
the bonanza farms resounds with the hum of
industry. Then all rs silent and the country
is desolate until the next spring. But wheat
has been produced cheaply, Where DO
the men who handle these immense
! crops OF wheat come from! That question
cannot be answered accurately. Casselton,
when / first saw IL, twC"weeks ago, was full
ofdirty, Idle men. Americans, Scandinavians
and Irishrnen swarmed along it's main street
This crowd of ragged, dirty, half-drunken
men were migratory harvest tramps who
Il Vvprn waiting m hpH hired WHARF, fhAV anrno
from and where they go to is unknown to
man. AS harvest approaches they crawl out
of freight cars which stop at Casselton. They
are seen walking along the dusty. hot high
ways which lead 10 this town. They arrive
during the night Tneg SLOUGH into town by
day They are, with the exception Of the
Scandinavians, almost invariably dead
broke. dirty and hungry. About eight hum
dred of these migratory people arrive at
| Casseiton in time TO assist IN harvest and
threshing. which last about forty days They
are paid 81 per day. So They earn about
$50 each during the Dakota harvest They
mysteriously disappear. They are %agricult-
ural tramps.
Col. Lomont has not yet made the
time table OF his presidential trip public,
but the dates that the president will be in
certain cities have been so far q deknown
that it is possible to outline in the rougha
fair skelet on programme OF the trip. 1t
will be something like this: Sept. 29, leave
WashiuSton; Oct. /, arrive in st. Louis;
Oct. 2, 3. A, in st. Louis; Oct. 5, arrive in
Chicago; Oct. 6, 2 in Chicago; Oct. s, in
Milwaukee; Oct. 9, in Madison; Oct. IL, in
st. Paul and Minneapolis; Oct. 13, In Kan
sas City; Oct. Is, in Memphis; Oct. 16, in
Nashville; Oct. IL, in Chattanooga; Oct.
Is. in Atlanta.
The following pensions nave been grant
| ed: Wisconsin: Widow of S. 81. Fend,
Boscobel; widow Of w. III. Shain, Portage;
widow Of w. G. Weericks 6hopiere. 0rigi.
nails: w. II Dalton, R~ockbridge; J Skin
ner. Pekin; p. Klenk, Milwaukee; j. #. hi,
Centralia; i. Reinhar6, Colgate; j, s. Oar
neil. Black River Falls: S. q. Price, Mil
waukee; M. Larkin, Loganville; A. Burg.
dori, Milwaukee; M. Allan, Lymrni J..
S%hanuhan, Milwaukee,. Minnesota: /. c..
Morey, Minneapolis; T.. r. L.ghtner, st.
Paul; w. j. Snyder, Austin; $. w. Heydon,
GAINESVILLE. Dakota: al. C. Wescott, Cor.
ona; j. w. Dove, Huron.
The two flags made BY the nunsFof
Thurles, Ireland havr arrived in b ekeeping
Of 1.-THE Rev. J. P.McDonnell OF Chicago. One
flag ID the stars and strips, and goes to the
1 Sixty-ninth New York regiment because OF
their patriotic treatment OF visitors from
the old sod. The other, which is the flag
OF green and gold, goes to that Irish Reg
iment in the United States getting the high
! est c number &uf votes. The flags were
blessed k.&Asehhishnn Grnke
Two terrible accidents occurred at Enfield
III, at 1.-The reunion OF the Eightyrsesenth
Illinois veterans. During the sham battle
a cannon was prematurely discharged,
blowing oil james Crocketts right arm.
An instant later, a few rods distant, an
Other cannon was discharged prematurely
and stretched FIVE bleeding victims on the
ground, Gabe Sullenger had both arms
blown of, and will probably die. The
Others injured were Robert johnson, Irwin
Reeder M@fiiam Daniels and Emanuel Der.
~. They are iearIully laeerated and burned,
but will survive.
At the national encampment ofthe Sons
Of Veterans At Des Moines. Iowa. Gen. q.
b. Abbott OF Chicago was chosen COM
maaders in-chief; Col. Henry A. Fraze OF
Ohio, liDmtenant general; Col. y. ]. Sneaker
of Missosri, major general. G. B. Cook of
Dakota. Col. Applegnte 81 Nebraska and G.